Lausanne, Switzerland, May 16, 2013 – The Dominican Republic women’s volleyball team paid a courtesy visit to the International Volleyball Federation headquarters in Lausanne on Thursday having arrived in Switzerland to play at the Montreux Volley Masters, which starts on May 28.

The Montreux event will feature eight teams including Olympic champions Brazil, China, Russia and hosts Switzerland in one pool while Marcos Kwiek’s team are grouped with Germany, Italy and Japan.

Thursday’s visit, which was welcomed by the FIVB 1st Executive Vice-President Mr Cristobal Marte Hoffiz and FIVB Treasurer Dr. Amr Elwani, marks the start of a busy two weeks for the Dominican Republic who are currently 10th in the FIVB world rankings. They will train in Switzerland before making their first appearance at the Montreux Volley Masters for 10 years from May 28 to June 2.

The Dominican Republic’s super scorer Bethania de la Cruz sees the Montreux Volley Masters as ideal preparation for the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix, which starts on August 2.

“It’s a great honour to be here at the FIVB headquarters, the home of world volleyball and I’m glad we have been able to have the opportunity whilst we are here to play in Montreux,” de la Cruz, who celebrated her 26th birthday on Monday, said. “This tournament will be an opener of the international season for us, it is also a new experience for us to play in Montreux – it is my first time here.

“I know it is a high level tournament which can be compared to the World Grand Prix, especially when you see which teams are participating. We have to use this chance to play as good as we can and to treat it as a preparation process to our next very important competitions like the Pan-American Volleyball Cup and the World Grand Prix.

“Many members of our team have been playing overseas that’s why we didn’t have much time to train and play together as a team, however we had a two weeks training camp in the Dominican Republic and the results of it were quite good. We plan to continue our training also here in Switzerland – for example part of our training will be a friendly match with Volero Zurich. Every match we play prepares us better to the World Grand Prix.

“The best way to success for us is to play as a team, together and then all other things will come together. The most important for us is to play together, to support and understand each other, to be stronger as a team – it is about the way in which the team handles their victories or defeats. And this is our main goal for the whole World Grand Prix season.”